Bottle capping mechanism



June 16, 1931. c. w. GooDwlN BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANI SM Filed May 29, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l .lime 16, 1931. Q w, GQODwyN 1,809,842

BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANISM Jf/Il ill 1f ff s: l II l 1| w 11 I I I I YI I l I V l JZ JOC/ I 4Z l j; II 44 j LI #da E 4f i l I 7/ 1 J Flai-' n a ,"H

IWW' fari MMda/,Z'm

June 16, 1931. Q w, GOODWIN 1,89,842

BOTTLE CAPPING MEGHANISM Filed May 29. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 W 1| I 'I l 1*] l IIII June 16, 193.1. C;- w GQODwlN 1,809,842

BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANISM'y v Filed May 29. 1928 5 sheets-sheet 4 June 16, 1931 c. w. GOODWIN BOTTLE CAPPING MECHANISM Filed May 29. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented `une 16, 1931 i UNITED-STATES LP-ATENT orFlcE Y CARI. w. GOODWIN, oF NATICK, mssacnugnrrs, AssIGNoR, BY NEsNE ASSIGNMENTS,

To AMERICAN SEAL-KAP CORPORATION, or LONG ISLAND rrmNEw Yom; A conmechanism are more Yparticularly adapted to PORATION OF DELAWARE j BTTLE CAPIEIN'G MECHANISM Application` filed May-29, 192,8. Serial No; 281,505.l

This invention relates to improvements in automatic mechanism for placing caps on milk bottlesor Vthe like.- Portions of the handle bottle caps or similarobjects which ,may be supplied in a stack, the caps being A lot such a shape ais to nest to some extent.

cap of this general type is illustrated in Reissue Patent No. 15,491 dated November 21, 1922.- i

An object of the invention is to provide a bottle-capping mechanism by which lbottles to be capped are successively raised against a cap-applying device which is capable of operating with caps which flt over the top portion of thebottle and extend downwardly onv the outside surface of the bottle mouth as V:of a portion of Figure 1..

well as seating on the usual circular shelf provided in milk bottles as a vset for the well known simple disk type of bottle stopper.

My improved capping mechanism' also includesvmeans for disengaging the lowermost cap of the type hereinbefore referred to from the bottom of a stack of similar caps and feeding the cap to the cap-applying portion of the apparatus. This feeding means is held by a catch, and when released by a suitable trip, it is operated\by a pair of springs of diii'erent strength, the stronger spring the bottle to be capped. 'The rising bottle engages the capping mechanism and resets the springsV whichV -operate the feeding mechanism. A l

For a more complete understanding of the inventiomreference is had to the disclosure in the following description and on the drawings, of which,- V A l Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of an automatic capping machine embodying the invention, the cap-feeding mechanism being on the point of operating.

Figure 2 is an elevation on a larger scale Figure 3 is an elevationv of a portion of the mechanism shown in Figure 2 showing the position of the parts aftera cap has been fed from the magazine.

Figure 4 is an elevation, partly-in section,l

'of the mechanism shown in Figure 2, the parts being shown at the moment when a cap is applied to a bottle.

Figure 5 is a. section of the apparatus on a Vertical-plane;

Figure 6 is asection on the line 6-6 of Figure 5. v v l Figure 7 is a section on the line le-7 ofl Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary section on'the line 8-1-8 of Figure 6.

Figure 9 is an elevation, partly in section, of a tripping mechanism for releasing the cap -feeding means.- f

Figure 11 is an -elevation of apparatus embodying a modified form of the invention.

Figure 12 is an elevation on a larger scale 70 of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 11.

Figure 13 is asection on the lines1313 ofdii'erent operative relation.

Figure`16 is a section on a vertical plane 80 I of the apparatus shown in Figure 12.

LReferring to the drawings in detail, I20 represents a fixed table which is a portion of a bottle-capping mechanism of a type-well known in the art, a shaft 21 being rotatably and-vertically supported in a suitable boss 22 formed on the table 20; The boss 22may contain'an-y suitable step bearing for the shaftd 21 to permit free rotation of the'latter. Fixed sol . l es Figure 10 is a section on the line 10'-.10 of- VFigure 9.

Figure 12.- Y l igue` 14 is a perspective view ofthe 75 to the shaft 21 is a horizontal table 23 which 90 I ispreferably circular in shape and on which are a number of Suitable bosses or standards 24 arrangedin a circle around the shaft 21 and adapted to receive supports 25 for individual milk bottles 26. Each bottle sup- 95 table 20. Secured to or formed on the up'- 3m per surface of the table--20 is a suitable cam member 29, the cam surface 30 of which is in the path of the roller 28. lAsshown in Figure 1, the support 25 with its bottle 26 is moved upwardly by the cam face 30 when the bottle reaches a certain stage in its circular path around the axis of theV shaft 21.

-of the shaft at the same rate so that each bottle support 25 remains directly beneath its corresponding capping mechanism 31. The arms 32 are preferably fix-ed to the shaft in such a way that they may be adjusted to different heights above the table 23 so that the machine can be adjusted to cap any of Vthe standard sizes of milk bottles. As shown in Figures 2 and 5, the capping mechanism may comprise a suitable housing 33, the lower enlarged portion of which is open at the bottom and has a Haring surface 34 to receive and guide the mouth of a bottle which isl elevated by the support 25. vThe housing 33, as shown, is fixed to a vertical rod 35 which slides in a suitable bracket 36 secured to the arm 32 and rising above the arm. The rod 35 is constantly pressed downwardly as by a suitable spring 37 which surrounds the rod between its bearing in the bracket 36 and a collar 38 which is secured to the rod below the bracket bearing as by a pin 39. The rod 35 also slides in a bearing formed in the extremity of the arm ,32, 'the spring,y 37 andcollar 38 being located between the bearing in the bracket'36 and the bearing in the arm 32. Fixed to the upper portion of the housing 33 is a collar 40 which surrounds and is secured to the lower end of the rod 35. Between the collar 40 and the extremity of the arm 32 are two additional collars 41 and 42, the collar` 41 having a reduced portion 43 about which is a compression spring 44. This spring bears against the under end of the collar 42 and von the upper face of the enlarged portion of the collar 41. Between the lower face of the collar 41 and the upper face of the housing 33is a compression spring 45 whic surrounds the collar 40 and is relatively stronger or stiffer than the spring 44. The collars 41 and 42 are slidable on the rod 35, their functionbeing to cooperate'with the springs 44, 45 in actuating the cap-feeding slide as will be hereinafter described.

Attached to or formed integrally with the housing 33 is a tubular magazine 46 adapted to receive a package of 'bottle caps comprising a tubular container 47 and a stack of machine herein shown and described is particularly adapted to'handle a kind of bottle cap which is described in Reissue Patent No. 15,491 dated November 21, 1922. This type of ca is adapted to enter the mouth of a milk ottle and fit into the seat formed 'thereinto receive the ordinary disk bottle cap. The improved bottle cap has a portion extending over the lip of the bottle and down the outside of the mouth so as to cover most of the beading at the top of the bottle. This coversand protects the entire lip ofthe bottle. Since, as'v is apparent from Figure 5 of the drawing, the portion of the cap which enters the mouth of the bottle extends below the portion which fits about the outer surface of the bottle mouth, when such caps are stacked as shown in Figure 5, the inner portions will nest to some extent. Thus it is more difficult to dislodge the lowermost cap from a stack of caps of this kind than it is to feed the lowermost disk from a stack of plain disks. In order to dislodge the lowermost cap from the remainder of the stack, a trip member 49 may be pivotally mounted at the lower end of the magazine 46, this member being engageable by a slide 50 which is movable across the bottom of the stack of caps 48 to feed the lowermost cap from the magazine to applying position in the capping mechanism. The slide 50 as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, may be connected as by a suitable link 51 to an arm 52 of a bell crank which is pivotally mounted as at k53 on the magazine 46. .The other arm' 54 of the bell crank is connected as by a link 455 to the collar 42. Since the collars 41 and 42 are 54 and 52. This latch may comprise a transverse bolt'56 mounted to slide transversely of the slide 50 in a recess provided therefor in the base portion 57 which is below and fixed to the bottle capper 31 and the magazine 46. The slide 50 may be provided with downwardly extending portions 58 which engage the sides of the base 57 and are guided thereby. The bolt 56 is movable so as to project into the path of one of the side portions 58 as indicated in Figure 6. wWhen in this position, the slide 5() is effectively held against feeding motion toward the right. In order to trip the bolt 56 and to release the slide 50, the bolt may be provided with a number of gear teeth 59'in one side face.

thereof, these teeth meshing with a gear sector 60 which is pinned to a short shaft 61 pass- 85 caps 48. The particular kind of capping ing through the base57. To the upper end 130 of the shaft 61 is secured atrigger arm 62 which extends outwardly beyond the end of the base 57. 'Ihe arm 62'may be swung back I .and forth between the full line and dotted feeding motion. When the arm 62 is swung to its dotted line position, this retracts the bolt 56 and permits the slide 50 to move in its feeding stroke under the pressure froml the springs 44 and 45. In order to trip the bolt 56 at the proper moment in the cycle of operations of the bottle capper, a suitable 'tripping member 65 may 'be mounted on a rod-66, which is carried by a fixed support 67.

4,The tripping member 65 is so arranged as to in the path of the outer endportion of the trigger arm 62 as the latter swings about the shaft 21 with the bottle-capping apparatus.

' As shown in Figure 1, the fixed support 67 is preferably vso located with respect to the cam face 30 that the slide 50 will be released and allowed tofeed a cap into the capper just be fore'the roller 28 rides on the inclined facey 30 to raisethe bottle 26 Ainto operative engagement with the capping mechanism 31.

As shown in Figure 9, the trip 65 which engages the arm 62 is provided with a collar 68 which is loosely mountedon a sleeve 69. This sleeve hasan enlarged portion 70 at its upper end which may be perforated to receive a suitable pin 71 adapted to pass through registering perforations in the rod 66 by which the tripping device may be selectively supported at various heights corresponding to the heights of diii'erent sizes of milk and cream bottles. ,Inorder to retain the collar 68 on the sleeve 69, a fixed collar 72 maybe mounted below it, this collar being secured to the sleeve 69 as by a suitable set screw 73. The collar 68 is loosely mounted on the sleeve 69 so that the trip 65 may yield to the arm 62 after it has moved the latter to the dotted line position shown in Figure 6. In order to oppose sutlic-ient force to the arm 62 to move it from one position to the other, a' suitable spring 74 may be mounted on the sleeve 69, one end of the sprin being anchored in the fixed collar 72 as at 5, the other end being 'anchored in the loose collar 68 asv at 7 6.- This spring as indicated in Figure 10 tends to move the trip in a clockwise direction, this m'otion'being limited bv'a suitable pin 77 projecting from the collar 72. The spring 74 v is of sufiicient strength-toQthrow the arm 62 when the trip comes in contact therewith land then to yield in order to allow the arm 62 to pass in its path around the axis of the shaft stronginitial kick to the slide 50 since the vice and directly When the bolt 56 is retracted by engage-v i ment of the arm 62 by the trip 65, the

springs 44 and 45 actuatethe slide 50v in its feeding stroke across the. bottom of a stack 0f caps 48. As the forward face of the slide ,ure 5 wherein it is held ready for the mouth of the bottle which thereupon rises into operative engagement with the capping device. In order to insure proper dislodgment of the lowermost cap fromthe stack, considerably more force must be applied thereto at the beginning of its motion than is necessary to carry the cap the rest of the' way to its bottle engaging position in the capper. To this end, as maybe seen from Figure 5, the relatively strong spring 45 serves to impart a spring 45 presses upwardly against the collar 41 which at the beginningof the feedingstroke of the slide 50 rests againstthe lower face lof the collar` 42. As soon'as the motion of the slide is well started, the weaker but more expansive spring 44-continues to raise the co'llar 42 at a more'rapid rate so that the cap is efficiently kicked loose from the bottom of thel stack and is quickly projected into its place in the capping device where it is in proper position to receive the mouth of a bottle rising beneath it'as shown in Fi ure 3.

In order to hold the cap-in suita le posi. tion after having been fed thereto byftheV slide 50, a pair of arcuate arms'78 may be hinged to the lower portipn of the housing 33 as by a suitablev pm 79.1'These arms are capable of limited Swingin movement toward and from each other a out the pin 79, a weak spring being employed to press er. The motion of the arms toward each other is limited byany suitable'means 4such .to support a cap which has een thrust be" tween the arms 78, the outer extremities of the extremities vof thearms toward each oth Y the latter may be provided with small ledges' Y 81 o`n which the ca may rest. The cap is thus held directly port 25 below.

After a cap has been fed into applyingfposition, the slide 50 must be reset ready for its next feeding stroke. -This may be accomplished, as shown, by the operative eng ement of the bottle 26 with vthe capper nliy which the capper, together with the rod 35, is moved upwardly while the cap is being seated in and secured over the mouth of the neath the capping de i. Aabove the bottle on the sup-v bottle. The cam member 29 is constructed of suflicient height to move a bottle upwardly until it in turn moves the capping device from the position illustrated in Figure 3 to that shown in Figure 4. It will benoted in Figure 3 that the collar 42, which has been pushed upwardly by the springs 44 and 45 during the feeding stroke of the slide 50, is already resting against the lower face of the extremity of the arm 32 before the capper 31 is raised by the bottle 26. As the capper 31 and the magazine 46 are raised by the bottle 26, the collar 42 remains stationary so that as the bell crank is carried upwardly, the

' crank is swung on its pivot 53 with the result that the slide 50 is moved back to the position shown in Figures 2, 5 and 6. When it reaches this position, the bolt 56 is projected outward laterally by the gear sector 60 acting under the -iniuence of the spring 63 so that the outwardly projected portion of the bolt 56 gets in the path of the side portion 58 of the slide 50 and prevents feeding motion of the slide until the bolt 56 is again v Withdrawn. After the bolt 56 has been projected so as to catch the slide 50, the bottle 26 descends and allows the capper 31 also to descend under the influence ofthe spring 37. The upward motion of the capper 31 has compressed the springs 44 and 45, but inasmuch as the slide 50-is caught by the bolt 56, these springs are not allowed to expand again, but the collars 42 and 41 are brought down with the capper and magazine. The

' mechanism is now back in the situation illustrated in Figure 1, a cycle of operations having been completed. The capped bottle is removed, a fresh bottleplaced on the support 25, and the cycle of operations is repeated.

The capping device itself which is contained in the housing 33 forms no part of this invention. As shown, it comprises a plunger 82 which is separated into a number of resilient fingers by a circular series of vertical slots 83. This plunger has a reduced portion 84 about which is a spring 85, this spring being employed to bear on a collar 86 which has a grooved lower face 87. As the bottle moves upwardly against the capper, it first picks up the cap held by the arms 8, then moves against the grooved face 87 of the collar 86, lifting this collar against the spring until the fingers of the plunger 82 have entered the mouth of the bottle sufliciently to seat the cap firmly therein, the grooved surface 87 pressing the upper portion of the cap into firm engagement with the lip of the bottle. In the operation of the machine, the shaft 21 with the table 23, arms 32, and capping devices 31, revolves on its axis at a constant speed. Bottles are fed successively to the supports 25 as the latter pass the feeding point. Just before the bottle reaches the capping point, the slide 50 is released to feed a cap into operative position whereupon the roller 23 rides up on the cam surface 30 raising the bottle against the capping device so that the cap is applied during the progress of the bottle around the shaft 21. At a point further along, the bottle is lowered and then removed from its support 25 whereupon the latter continues along to the bottle-feeding point to receive another bottle to be capped.

Figures 11-16 inclusive illustrate a slightly modified form of tripping apparatus for releasing the cap-feeding slide. As herein shown, the latch is not applied directly to the slide but to the collar which is connected with the bell crank and which slides on the rod 35. The slide 90 is connected as by a link 91 to an arm 92 of a bell crank which is pivoted as at 93 to the magazine 46. As shown in Figures 11 and 12, a collar 94 is provided with an arm 95 on which is a pin 96 extending through a slot 97 in the upper arm 98 of the bell crank. A spring 45 surrounds the rod 35 and is compressedbetween the upper face of the capper housing 33 and the lower face of the collar 94, thus normally pressing the collar 94 upwardly so as to tend to move the slide 9U toward the right in its feeding stroke. This upward movement of the collar 94 is prevented by a bolt 99, an end of which engages in a suitable notch 100-cut in the rod 35. A suitable spring 101 is provided to press the inner end of the bolt 99 inwardly against the rod 35. The bolt may be tripped by a suitable lever 102, one arm of which is in the form of a fork 103 engaging a pin 104 which extends through the bolt 99. To the lower arm 105 of the lever 102 is pivotally attached a link 106, the end of which rests against a lug 107 on the top of a sleeve 108,- which adjustably telescopes over a bar 109 according to the height of the bottles to be capped, the sleeve 108 and bar 109 being secured together as by a pin 110. As shown in Figure 15, upward motion of the rod 109 elevates the lug 107 and this rocks the link 106 so that the arm 105 is pushed toward the left swinging the upper forked arm 103 to the right and thus retracting the bolt 99 from the notch 100. This permits the spring 45 to push the collar 94 upwardly and thus to move theslide 90 through its feeding stroke. A light spring 120 may be employed to oppose the action of the lug 106 against the link 107 and to relieve the spring 101 from any pressure of the fork 103 a ainst the pin 104 when the lug 107 is lowere As shown in Figure 16, the subsequent elevation of the bottle 26 causes the capping device to rise with a consequent compression of the spring 45 until the notch 100 reaches` the bolt 99 and `is engaged thereby. At the same time, the rise of the bell crank relatively to the sleeve 94 results in the retraction of the slide 90 to its initial positionnin which it is 'trigger normally holdin said means ready.

ready to feed another cap. When the bottle 26 and capping device descend, the collar 94 being again secured'to the rod 35 by the engagement of the bolt 99in the notch 100, is

vcarried downwardly so thatthe apparatus is .again in the position illustrated in Figure 11. As may be seen in' Figure l1, the rod 109V ping-thebottle during its travel, vspring actuated means secured to said capping'means for feeding a capto said capping means, a

for feeding motion, an a stationary tripping device ,engaged by said trigger at a predetermined point in the travel of said support to release said capping .means for feeding motion. Y

2. Apparatus of the class described, comvprising a traveling support fora milk'lbottle, means traveling with the bottle support for capping a bottoleonthe support atA a predeterminedpoint in its travel, mechanism carried by said capping meansa tending to feed capsthereto, means for retaining said mechanism from feeding movement, and means for releasing said cap-feeding mechanism at an interval after disengagement of a capped bottlev with said capping means. l,

3. Apparatus ofthe class described, c prising a capping device, a bottle support under said device, meansifor movingsaid device and support in-l closed paths, means for moving said support a .45

redetermined distance upward toward sai device at a predetermined point in its path whereby a. bottle*` on said support is moved into operative enf gagement with thercapping device, mechameans for releasing saidt cap-feeding mecha-- nism at an interval after disengagement of Aa nism carried by said capping dev/ice tending to feed caps thereto, means forfretaining sai mechanism' from feeding movement, and

capped bottle with said capping device.

4. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a traveling suppxort for` a milk bottle, means traveling with t e bottle support for capping a bottle on.- the support at a predetermined point in its travel, a reciprocatory ,member for feeding` caps to said capping means, spring means tendingto move said i feeding member on its feeding stroke, said memberv being retracted by the capping motion of said capping means,fmeans for retaining said member in its retracted position when moved thereto by the capping motion of said capping means, and meansfor releasing said member for a feeding stroke at an interval after disengagement of a capped bottle with said capping means.

5. Mechanism of the class'described, comprising a magazine for holding a stack of nested bottle caps, means for relieving the lowermost cap from the weight of thesta'ck, and means for `feeding the lowermost cap `from under the stack, said feeding means iiicluding a slide movable across the bottom of the stack, al relatively strong spring operatively connected to said slide and operating to actuate the slide in the initial portion of its feeding stroke, a relatively weak spring operatively connectedv to said slide and opt erating to actuate the slide through the remainder of its feeding stroke, Va latch arranged to prevent feeding motion ofthe slide, and means for trippingsaid latch and releasing the slide. n

6. In a bottle-capping mechanism, a pair of vertically and independently movable elements, supportedv one above the other, resilient means between said elements pressing them apart, a cap-feedingslide carried by one of said elements and reciprocable horizontally with respect thereto, means operatively linking said slide to said upper element so that movement of said elements away from each other causes a cap-feeding movement of said slide and movement of said ele-y ments toward each other causes return move-y ment of said slide, andreleasable means -for retaining said'slide,I in itsretracted position against the Aforce off said resilient means.

, 7. Mechanism of the class described, comprisinga support, afbottle-capping device carried by said support and movable upwardly from normal position relative to the support, a magazine fora stack of bottle caps attached to said device and movable therewith, a slidemovable across the bottom of the stack to ,feed the lowermost cap from under the stack, a bell crank pivetally mounted on said magazine, a link lconnecting one arm of said bell crank to said slide, a spring-pressed member connected to the other `bell crank arm and movable upwardly to actuate said slide in its feeding stroke, a latch for preventing feeding motion of said slide, and means for tripping the latch just before the .operation of the capping device and releasing s aid spring-pressed member, vand slide, said cappin device and magazine v being movable upwar ly by the capping operation to follow said spring-pressed member and thus to causethe retraction of the slide to its latched position.

v8. Mechanism of the class described, comprisin' a' vertical shaft, an arm extending radia y from said shaft and actuable to swin around the. axis thereof, a horizontal plat orm mounted beneath said arm to revolve around the axis with saidva'rm, a .bottlecapping device supported by said arm and movable upwardly from its normal position relative thereto, a bottle support carried by said platform beneath said capping device andsuitably spaced therefrom, means for moving said bottle support upwardly to bringa bottle on said support into operative engagement with said capping device, a magazine for bottle caps attachedto said de vice, spring-operable means for feeding caps from said magazine to said device, a latch for holding said feeding means in position ready to feed a cap, and tripping means mounted independently of said foregoing mechanism and engageable by a portion thereof in lits revolution about the shaft to trip said latch just before said bottle support is raised to bring a bottle thereon into operative engagement with said capping device.

9. In a bottle cap feeding mechanism, a slide movable to feed a cap, spring means for imparting feeding motion to said slide, a latch having a portion movable into the path of said slide to hold the slide against feeding movement in a position rea-dy to feed, means for releasing said slide for feedingmovement,

said releasing means comprising a lever actuable to move said latch into and `out of the path of the slide, and a trip engageable with said lever to move said latch out of said path.

10. Mechanism of the class described, coml A prising a milk bottle support, cap-applying means operatively located above said support, a cap-feeding device secured to said capapplying means, spring means` for actuating said device including a spring between said capping means and a portion of said support, whereby said spring is stressed by motion of said capping means toward said support portion when the capping means is operatively engaged by a. bottle to be capped, said cap feeding device having a controlling 1 trigger and a trip mounted toengage and to trip said trigger at an interval after a capped bottle is disengaged from said cap-applying means, and means for effecting relative movement between said trip and trigger to bring them into engagement.

. In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

CARL W. GOODWIN. 

